la étoile
by poisone.iv
Summary: "..wanted to welcome you to the neighborhood!" Mona bit her lower lip, her hands twisting instinctively at the hem of her shirt as she waited for the girl to answer. One year before Alison DiLaurentis's disappearance, a new student arrives at Rosewood Day, allying herself against Alison with "loser Mona", this new girl throws even more shadows on the mystery known as 'A'.
1. Chapter 1

{~~Chapter 1~~}

Mona:

Mona watched as a moving van pulled up in front of old Mrs. Sommer's house, the widow had moved into a nursing home half a year ago after she had broken her hip. The large five-bedroom house had been on the market for several months now, with many hopefuls coming by to view the house; but it wasn't until recently that the "For Sale" sign in the front yard had been removed.

Mona had heard rumors that a family with a teenage daughter was going to live in the house. She had been eagerly awaiting this day for weeks, hopefully her new neighbor would give her a chance before the queen bee of Rosewood, Alison DiLaurentis, would (most likely) snatch her away.

A blonde woman in her early forties stepped out from the van's driver side and leaned back into the vehicle to grab her purse. As she slammed the door shut, a silver SUV pulled up on the other side of the street, a young man around his early twenties jumped out, giving the woman a hug before sticking his head through the car's open window to beckon the rest of the passengers out.

Two girls, a black haired teenage girl and a toddler with tousled blonde hair greeted the woman jovially; unfortunately Mona could only see the back of their heads from her bedroom window, so she couldn't see the newcomers' faces. Mona guessed the woman was the mother of the family and the young man was probably an older son or relative. Mona felt a wave of disappointment when she estimated that the teenager was around seventeen, she probably wouldn't even give fourteen year old Mona a glance.

Mona sighed and decided to set the table for dinner as she made her way downstairs, it was almost six o'clock and her mother would be home soon. Fifteen minutes before the clock struck six, not long after Mona finished setting the table, Mrs. Vanderwaal's car pulled into the driveway.

"Hey mom, you're home early today!" Mona grinned, her mother often worked late and it was rare that the family of two got to eat dinner together.

Leona Vanderwaal smiled at her daughter, "I just couldn't wait to see you -and the new neighbors. Have you talked to them yet? That one girl looked around your age."

Mona sighed again, pouting a little, "Mom, she looks like she's seventeen or something, and even if we become friends, Alison is just going to convince her that I'm a loser."

Leona's heart broke a little bit more for her daughter, Alison Dilaurentis's relentless bullying hadn't let up even after all these years, and her daughter's self esteem had suffered a lot because of it. Leona reminded herself to talk to the school administration once again, "I'm sure even if she is older than you, she'll give you a chance, remember, you have to give people a chance too."

"Okay, I'll talk to her after dinner, does that sound good?" Mona knew her mother wanted the best for her, but after getting let down by her peers time after time, she was more than hesitant to build new relationships.

Dinner passed by peacefully, with nothing more than casual talk about Mrs. Vanderwaal's job and Mona's extracurriculars. Mona stood up to clear the plates away, but her mother touched her hand lightly and gave her a stern look, communicating that Mona should go out to greet the new neighbors instead of procrastinating.

* * *

The crisp night air felt refreshing after spending the whole afternoon cooped up inside the house avoiding Alison and her posse, who had even more time to torment her now that summer break had begun. Mona strolled down her driveway, trailing her fingers along the flank of her mom's car, she idly examined her fingertips and noted that they came back slightly dusty, shrugging, she wiped them on her pants and resumed her walk down the driveway.

The fresh night air cleared Mona's mind and filled her with courage. She pushed away her nerves and focused on putting a bright welcoming smile on her face, she felt hopeful and optimistic, even if the new family didn't like her, she would have at least tried. Her mom was right, she hadn't been giving people many chances.

When she reached the sidewalk, Mona gazed at the next-door house, the moving van was gone and the SUV was now parked neatly in the drive, a few boxes labeled "outdoor" were stacked haphazardly on the lawn giving the impression that the inhabitants of the house had not fully unpacked yet. Mona mentally scolded herself for not bringing a housewarming gift to make a good impression, but decided to go ring the doorbell nevertheless.

A pitter-patter of feet against the floor and a young voice loudly announcing, "I'll get it!" was quickly replaced by a slightly accented voice yelling, "Don't answer the door if you don't know who it is, Freya, go with your sister please!" The door opened to reveal a tall, thin teenage girl with pale skin and startling green eyes, the toddler Mona had seen earlier peeked out from behind her.

"Hi, I'm Mona. I live next door to you, I just uh..wanted to welcome you to the neighborhood!" Mona bit her lower lip, her hands twisting instinctively at the hem of her shirt as she waited for the girl to answer.

The girl smiled at her, " Hi Mona, thank you! Nobody's approached us as of yet, I'm Freya," gesturing at the toddler behind her she continued, "and this is my sister, Natalia." Mona noted that Freya had a slight accent that she presumed to be British.

Freya crouched down and hoisted Natalia up into her arms, "say hi to Mona, Tali."

The little girl peeked out from under her dark lashes, only now did Mona notice that Natalia's eyes were a beautiful azure, she felt awfully plain beside the two stunning siblings, yet they didn't seem to be judging her outfit or features.

"Hi Mona." The little girl whispered. Mona smiled at her, feeling at ease while mentally making a note to thank her mother for making her put herself out there. "Hi Natalia, how old are you?" The toddler held out three fingers, "Wow, you're a big girl aren't you?" Mona coaxed the young girl. Shyly, Natalia nodded.

The same accented voice Mona assumed to be the girls' mother called out, "Now Freya, don't let our visitor stand out in the cold, invite her in, come in!"

Mona smiled and gratefully stepped into the house, she looked around with interest, the last time she had been in the house was to check up on the newly widowed Mrs. Sommers. Back then the entranceway was dark and smelled of cat pee, now a light had been installed and the air smelled like roses.

* * *

Mona hummed softly while skipping up her driveway, the youngster had made some new friends today and was overjoyed, the next school day didn't seem so daunting now with her new classmate to look forward to.

Leona smiled as she watched her daughter skip home after spending two hours with their new neighbors. "So, how was it?"

Mona launched into a detailed explanation of what she had learned about her new neighbors. "Freya, the tall girl is fourteen, she'll be in ninth grade at Rosewood Day when the school year starts. She has a little sister called Natalia."

Taking a breath she continued, "Freya says that they moved here because of her mom's job, I didn't ask what Mrs. Girard does though… Oh! Did I mention that they used to live in Britain and that Mrs. Girard is French? But they moved to New York two years ago, and now they're here."

"Well I'm glad that you're happy, school will be much better with a friend to keep you company." Mrs. Vanderwaal told Mona, hopefully Freya would prove to be a worthwhile friend for her daughter. "It's getting late, why don't you go upstairs and get ready for bed? You can tell me all about your friends later, okay?"

Nodding, Mona turned to go upstairs, remembering something, she turned around and, in a rare show of emotion, hugged her mother, "Thanks for telling me to do this mom, I love you." before heading to her room.

* * *

 **A/N: New chapter coming up soon!**


	2. Chapter 2

{~~Chapter 2~~}

 **A/N: Shoutout to skittlelover20 for being my first ever reviewer!**

* * *

Freya:

Trees and shrubbery whizzed by as the car sped along the highway. The SUV jolted as the wheels hit an uneven patch of road, Natalia's body lolled to the right, her bony elbow jutting into Freya's side. Wincing, Freya carefully repositioned her little sister, laying her so that she could rest comfortably against her shoulder.

Freya had originally planned on sitting in the passenger seat so she could catch up with her older brother Aimeric. The last time she had seen him was three years ago, when he had graduated from high school a year early and left for college in Germany. Much to maman's relief, the twenty year old had finally resurfaced after being relatively unavailable for the majority of his college tenure to help them move out of the city.

The main reason Juliette Girard had decided to move was because her superiors had promoted her to work as the bank director of the new Rosewood bank. As director, she had many benefits, including an entire house for her family. With only a three year old and a fourteen year old to care for, a big house in a nice suburban town seemed superior to a small, cramped flat in a crowded city.

Freya's mother had decided to move her family out of the city also due to the unpleasant schooling experience her children had faced for the past two years. Freya grimaced at the thought of school, not because she disliked learning, but more because of her fellow students; her outlandishly green eyes and dark hair made her stand out from other students, and her reserved attitude made her an even easier target for bullying.

* * *

The house was huge, Freya stood in front of their new home, awed beyond words.

"Maman! You didn't say we were gonna live in a castle!" Natalia's voice shook Freya's out of her awestruck stupor. Tali had her arms spread out as far as possible, trying to show her mother just how BIG their new house was. "Do I get my own room? What about a swing set, or a sandbox?"

Before they moved to the US, when all family members were still present, the Girard family had lived in a spacious apartment London, but this was an entirely different luxury. Freya could relate to Natalia, with a house at least three times the size of their flat in New York, everyone could have their own room and maybe even their own bathroom!

"Well, I guess I 'forgot' to mention that we were going to live in a big house, no? I wanted to surprise you!" Maman's French accent became even more evident as she got excited. "And no, Talia you're not getting a sandbox or a swing set, that is what going to the park is for, no?" She lectured her youngest daughter sternly.

Freya grinned at her mom and hugged her gratefully, with Natalia following suit, although she seemed a bit disgruntled about maman's previous words. Aimeric had already started to unpack the moving van that their mother had rented online and was gesturing for them to help him. With three pairs of hands (and occasionally two smaller hands) unloading the van, the boxes were all inside the house and distributed to their respective rooms within a few hours.

* * *

Freya let out a breath as she lowered herself onto her bed, it had been a long day, with the car ride, moving in, and meeting Mona… Mona was nice, Freya had decided that the moment she had met her, a group of five girls around her age had been observing the Girard's move, but none of them had offered to help nor introduced themselves; yet Mona had rung the doorbell and offered her friendship.

Natalia had immediately taken a liking to her too, Freya had noticed how at ease the Tali was with Mona, usually Tali was shy around new people and observed them from afar before deeming them trustworthy enough to open up to. Fraya's second notion was that Mona was something of a kindred soul, the way she talked and held herself felt strangely relatable and she felt that with time Mona would become one of her closest and best friends.

Maman interrupted her thoughts with a knock at her door, "cheri, in which room should I put Angelique's things?" Angelique, Freya's older sister, had just finished her last two years of high school in New York. Deciding that she wanted to go abroad like Aimeric, she had gone back to Britain to study accounting, hoping to follow in her mother's footsteps into the world of finance. She had left some of her things behind, and would need a room to stay in when she came to visit.

"How about the downstairs bedroom? Then it can double as a guest room when Angelique isn't here." Freya suggested.

Juliette thanked her with a nod and left the room. Freya had chosen one of the four upstairs bedrooms, it faced their backyard and was large and spacious, Natalia had chosen the room beside hers. Currently, only her bed and a mirror adorned the room, the few boxes with Freya's belongings sat at the foot of her bed, waiting to be unpacked. The family didn't have much furniture, but Juliette had promised to go shopping with her daughters the following day.

Freya stood up and decided to start unpacking. Her room had a built in closet, so she could unpack her clothes already, stooping down, she grabbed the box with her clothes from the floor, and began to sort them into piles on her bed. Multiple pairs of jeans, a few solid coloured shirts -both long and short sleeved- underclothes, and two jackets and three black hoodies.

It wasn't that the Girards didn't have the money to buy fashionable clothing, on the contrary, with her mother's salary and her father paying child support, Freya could have bought any type clothing she wanted, but she preferred to dress low-key to escape unwanted attention at school.

Freya reached into the box to check for more clothes when her knuckles hit something hard. Frowning, she looked into the cardboard box in confusion, spotting a wooden box underneath a red raincoat. Recognizing it as her jewelry box, she lifted it out and opened it, a few chokers, bracelets, and rings lay in the main compartment of the small box.

Freya pulled open the little drawer that held her two necklaces, they had been gifted to her by her parents. Maman had given her the silver necklace, it looked like someone had interwoven dark green thread into the double rope chain. Freya smiled at the memory of her sixth birthday when her mother had surprised her with the extra gift.

Her smile vanished when she looked at the necklace her father had given her two years ago. It was a silver charm necklace, papa had given it to her as a sorry-I-cheated-on-your-mother-and-am-leaving-the-family-here's-something-shiny-to-compensate present when he had left. Freya rarely wore it anymore, she used to wear it everyday, but with time, hurt had been replaced by anger and resentment against her father and his blasted necklace.

Shoving the necklace back into drawer, she stood up and started to put her clothes into closet. Too many unpleasant memories had been stirred up today, hopefully tomorrow would prove to be a better day.

* * *

 **A/N: Black hoodies and red raincoats! Sound familiar to anyone? By the way, here's a list of OCs that have been mentioned as of yet:**

 **Natalia Girard (3)**

 **Freya Girard (14)**

 **Angelique Girard (18)**

 **Aimeric Girard (20)**

 **Juliette Girard (41)**

 **Freya is the Norse goddess for love, beauty, war, and death. I thought it would be befitting of how Freya changes and develops as she faces the physical and mental obstacles thrown in her way while growing up and being involved with 'A'.**

 **Currently the first couple chapters will be some build up to get the plot up and running, but soon more familiar faces will come into the picture (get ready for some pre-'A' Alison!).**


	3. Chapter 3

{~~Chapter 3~~}

 **A/N: skittlelover20 thanks for your continued support and attention! Also, shoutout to pinkcrazyness for being my first follow!**

 **Names: Girard is a pretty common French surname, and isn't all too difficult to spell or pronounce.**

 **Natalia means 'birthday, Christ's birthday (Christmas)', I felt like it fit a bubbly, yet temperamental toddler well, as Christmases and birthdays are mixed pots of emotion.**

 **Angelique means 'Angel, angelic', later on in the story, I'm hoping Angelique's angelic and pure personality (try saying that ten times fast) will contrast against Freya's more complicated, dark conscience.**

 **Aimerice isn't all that vital to the story yet, his name means 'king of work'. I've decided to peg him as the hard working brother who had to grow up too early due to familial issues and is doing his best to support the family he has returned to.**

 **Juliette was chosen because like in Romeo and Juliet she was part of a pretty tragic love story/relationship/marriage that went downhill very fast (more on that in later chapters).**

* * *

Freya:

The blankets were uncomfortably hot as Freya fisted at the sheets, her dreams had disturbed her already, now the weather was trying to bother her too?! _Ugh_. Obviously, she wasn't the biggest morning person, as had been proven over and over again through the years by the countless mornings where her mother had to drag her out of bed.

Freya tossed and turned, trying to fall back asleep again in vain. She pulled her blankets over her head, trying to block the sun heating up the room through her curtainless windows. _Mental note: buy some bloody curtains today!_ Giving up, she stretched lethargically and got out of bed. Grabbing her phone, she pressed the home button, the screen lit up, showing the time, it was only eight thirty. _Great, I'll go make some breakfast then…_

After putting on a pair of jeans and a dark green shirt, Freya examined herself in the mirror. The black choker around her neck contrasted nicely against her pale skin, her black hair was pulled up into a high ponytail, showing off her slim face. Deciding to accentuate her bright green eyes, she quickly lined her eyes and finished up her look.

Stepping out of her room, she noticed Natalia's door was still closed, assuming that she was still sleeping, Freya walked through the hallway quietly, Tali threw the biggest tantrums when woken up too early.

"Merde!" Freya cursed under her breath when she stepped on a creaky stair. A soft giggle came from behind Freya, turning around, she spotted Natalia grinning drowsily at her from the top of the stairs. Laughing, she feigned offense, "You cheeky little thing, I thought you were still sleeping!"

Natalia blinked at her innocently, "I was first up, but I can't reach the cereal, see?" Demonstrating, Natalia ran downstairs to the kitchen to open the cupboard door, Freya followed her sister and saw that the cereal was indeed on a shelf that was too high up for a three year old to reach. "It got too hot so I woked up. And then I waited for a _loooong_ time, and then you finally got up too!"

Deciding that she could treat her little sister for being patient enough to wait for someone to wake up, she got out the frying pan and some eggs as she turned toward Natalia, "Hey Tali, how about I make us scrambled eggs? Cereal is boring. And plus, today is our first day in Rosewood, so we get a special breakfast." Freya suggested carefully.

Natalia didn't like it when people told her what to do, she often rejected other's decisions on her behalf stubbornly, whether it was for her personal gain or not. The Girards knew to 'suggest' things in a way so Natalia could make her own independent decision. Thankfully today she was too hungry and sleepy to object, nodding she murmured a soft, "Okay."

The smell of grease and eggs filled the kitchen as Freya poured the scrambled egg mixture into the frying pan, Natalia sat at the counter patiently, sipping on a cup of glass. "When is maman gonna get up?" she wondered out loud. "I'm sure she'll be up soon, if she isn't up by the time we're done eating, I'll take you to that park we saw yesterday."

Freya switched the stove off and served Natalia her eggs before she proceeded to make herself a plate too. "Do you want ketchup, or salt and pepper?" Freya reached into the fridge, grabbing the ketchup for herself, waiting for Tali to reply. "Salt, no pepper." Natalia answered. Freya grinned, deciding to tease the little girl for a bit, "What's the magic word?"

"Please." Natalia reluctantly tagged on the last word. Smiling, Freya closed the fridge and grabbed the salt handing it to the younger girl.

The two girls cleaned off their plates in a record amount of time, and soon Freya was helping Natalia put on her shoes and jacket to go to the park.

* * *

The sun shone as the sisters walked to the park hand in hand. Birds chirped and leaves whispered, the ambient air disturbed only by the occasional passing of a car.

Freya checked out their surroundings, the Rosewood park was still empty this early in the day, no nosy mothers or loud preteens running around, they had the park all to themselves. _Perfect_.

"Come on! I wanna swing!" Natalia darted towards the swings at the other end of the park. Upon further inspection, Freya noticed that there was someone sitting on one of the swings. "Talia! Wait-" her sister ignored her and continued on with unbridled excitement, undaunted by the stranger watching them. Sighing, Freya gave chase, Natalia had already jumped onto the swing, admitting defeat, Freya called out, "Don't jump off!".

Finally reaching the swingset, Freya walked to a bench where she could keep an eye on her sister. The ash blonde guy sitting on the other swing got up and walked toward Freya, pointing towards the swing he had just vacated he muttered, "That one's free now."

"Oh no, it's okay, really, you can use it." Freya declined hastily, surprised at the friendly gesture.

The nameless boy looked to be around seventeen, the corners of his light blue eyes crinkled as he narrowed them, "That's fine, I wasn't really using it. Sorry, but.. are you new here? I don't think I've seen you around town or school, I'm Jason by the way." Jason held out his hand for Freya to shake.

"We are new here actually," Freya shook Jason's hand, pointing at Natalia and herself while she spoke, "I'm Freya, it's nice to meet you Jason."

Jason opened his mouth to speak, but before he could say anything, Natalia called out to the two teens, "Watch me fly!"

The two started and turned towards the swingset, where Natalia was preparing jump off the swing from the highest point possible. Freya paled, this was not good, the three year old was only ever allowed to jump off with someone there to catch her.

The last time Natalia jumped off the swings without supervision, she had twisted her ankle badly. The doctor had strongly cautioned the youngest Girard against jumping off the swings again unless she wanted an even more severe leg injury.

Freya jumped off the bench, praying to God that she could get there in time, "Talia- no!"

An ear-splitting scream split the air as the toddler hit the ground. Freya and Jason turned toward each other, eyes wide in horror.

* * *

 **A/N: Cliffhanger! Oh, also, familiar faces are entering the picture! Do you think I got our second favorite DiLaurentis sibling's personality right? How will Freya and Jason's acquaintance effect the storyline?**

 **A few more chapters will sum up the backstory, and then I'll probably do a time jump to one year after Alison's "death" (like the TV show did) and pick up Freya's story from there.**

 **I'm still doing my best to give the characters all a separate voice, but with such a big 'cast' there might me an occasional inconsistency. Feel free to point them out and I will fix them. This is my first public story so any support is dearly appreciated.**


	4. Update!

**Hey guys, I'm contemplating taking this story down and uploading the completed result sometime around new years. I feel like my writing has improved and matured quite a bit over the last couple months, so I'm going to edit all the chapters I've already posted for continuity. Actually, I'm going to leave this up for now, but will post the improved version under a different name. Thank you to those who have been following this story, you have been so nice and supporting for a first-time fan fiction writer, I appreciate it.**

 **(Ivy)**


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